What`s your most boneheaded RV moment?

[thecampingcat]

Third day with Greyhawk backed up without a spotter and pressed edge of steel tube bumper enough to tweak it... wondering if I should replace or repair or leave it as a reminder to have a spotter when backing up!

[thecampingcat]

Anticipating awning incident..will the Greyhawk carefree awning really dump rain on its own as dealer indicates..when I asked him how to tilt it he said it doesn't do that and showed me how front arm gives under pressure...

[WVDusty]

The auto dump works great on mine. If there is a black knob on your awning arm you can pull down the awning on one side and lock it in place.

[wwsmith111]

I keep forgetting to crank down the television antenna. Apparently I'm not the only one as I see them going down the road all the time still in the up position. That is until they get torn off.

[Russkerri]

We have only had our TT for less than 2 months and already had our first bonehead mistake.

Since we read the threads warning about not putting bike racks on the bumper, we decided to travel with our bikes in the trailer.

On our second trip with the trailer, we stopped for gas an hour down the road and heard a curious beeping coming from the trailer. We hopped out and opened it up...

The smell of propane flooded our noses, and we realized the sound was coming from the carbon monoxide detector.

The culprit? Our dang bikes had fallen over and miraculously turned on the stove burner!

We also blew a tire on this same trip. Lots of memories already being made!

[Tex1961]

Step 3 in our checklist before traveling. "Turn off gas"

[nbhybrid]

Originally Posted by Tex1961

Step 3 in our checklist before traveling. "Turn off gas"

most like to run the fridge though

[Brownie]

Well, I had one of those "bone-headed moments" at my last campground.

After arriving at my last campground, I stopped at the dump/fill station to fill up with fresh water. While I was at it, I decided to rinse the black tank, so I hooked up the "red" hose (posted as not safe for drinking) to the black tank flush inlet and let it run for about a minute. After I shut it off and hooked up my slinky, I discovered I was too far from the sewage dump for my slinky to reach. So, I disconnected the slinky, got in my truck and started pulling forward . . . but I forgot to disconnect the hose from the black tank flush inlet. Looking at the side-view mirror for proper alignment, I saw the red hose wand bent forward, so I hit the brakes, opened the door, and jumped from the cab. But I was too late! Just as my feet hit the ground, the hose broke loose from the inlet; or rather, the hose broke the inlet loose from the trailer! What a BONE HEAD!

I removed the inlet from the hose end and tried to "super-glue" it back on, but I wouldn't hold. So, my first stop after reaching my current campground was the Camping World store in Grand Rapids. I was able to pick up a replacement for about $10.50, and installing it was an easy 5-minute job.

The moral of the story: Be sure you remove your hose before you dump your load.

NOW THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!

[marlinmike]

While hooking up to my last trailer, being pretty excited about getting the new one, I forgot one minor thing. I use my power tongue jack to lift the back of my truck to get the torsion bars in alignment with their sockets (anyone who owns an Equal-I-zer knows what I'm talking about).

Long story short, forgot to lower the jack and bent it about a 15 degree angle. Wouldn't retract so I could only bend it more to get it up to trailer off for the trade-in.

Dealer I was trading it into just laughed about it. I was expecting a deduction in trade-in $ - but nothing.

Marlin

[Tex1961]

Originally Posted by nbhybrid

most like to run the fridge though

I hear ya, and understand. But we had a potential situation as well. We just returned from a weekend out with the TT. We have a housekeeping crew that comes over every 2 weeks and cleans our house, anyway since I still had the camper parked out front I asked if they would clean up the camper for an extra few $$. The next day I went inside to make sure all was good before moving it to its regular parking spot when I noticed one of the stove burners was moved to the on position (they hit the knob with a rag while cleaning it). Had the gas been on we would have had a camper filled with gas and since it was plugged into shore power, well you can imagine what could have happened.. This was right out of our very first trip in the camper, so from that point on I decided that I would never leave the gas on. Just my own personal experience here and not saying good or bad to anyone traveling with the gas on, just related to the OP about potential issues with gas.

[Tokensmom]

I have had my giggles and shocked gasps over all the stories...learning valuable lessons through others. Tonight I got my first big one!

I have been saying all week that this might be the last camping trip of the season but that I'd decide on Sunday afternoon. Well, I am sure as of 7:30 tonight this is the last camping trip of the season.

While putting up my back tent end, the bar slipped and put a good sized chevron shaped hole thru the canvas. Ran up to the gas station and have temporarily patched it with duct tape both inside and out. Saving the tears for finding out how much it'll cost to fix.

[chrismoore701]

Originally Posted by Tokensmom

I have had my giggles and shocked gasps over all the stories...learning valuable lessons through others. Tonight I got my first big one!

I have been saying all week that this might be the last camping trip of the season but that I'd decide on Sunday afternoon. Well, I am sure as of 7:30 tonight this is the last camping trip of the season.

While putting up my back tent end, the bar slipped and put a good sized chevron shaped hole thru the canvas. Ran up to the gas station and have temporarily patched it with duct tape both inside and out. Saving the tears for finding out how much it'll cost to fix.

Depending on the age and the quality of your rig, you have three (3) choices. 1) Replace the canvas, will look nice but expensive. 2) Take the canvas off and go down to your local automotive appolstry shop and have them sew on a patch, cheaper, may not look the best but will solve the problem. 3) Leave the duct tape, crazy cheap, but may look a little hillbilly ish. I have duct tape on my awning and I am OK with it.

Good luck

[nbhybrid]

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

Depending on the age and the quality of your rig, you have three (3) choices. 1) Replace the canvas, will look nice but expensive. 2) Take the canvas off and go down to your local automotive appolstry shop and have them sew on a patch, cheaper, may not look the best but will solve the problem. 3) Leave the duct tape, crazy cheap, but may look a little hillbilly ish. I have duct tape on my awning and I am OK with it.

Good luck

From her avatar it looks like a fairly new X17Z.....spend the cash and get a new one from Jayco. I bet it isn't as much as you think

[oobedoob]

This wasn't me but I contributed in a way....
Walking to our camp in Yellowstone and another camper wanted to pull a u-turn into the dump station but instead of waiting for us to walk farther and swing wide he cut it sharp and proceeded to drag the side of his trailer against a tree because of the angle. He stopped and stared at the tree for a minute before continuing to scrape the rest of the trailer against the poor innocent tree!
Moral: be patient. Use your mirrors. Reverse is your friend.

[The Dster]

Had a 26ft toy hauler for 10 years no problems or accidents... Less than a month ago got a new 33ft Eagle with all the bells and whistles. Drove it home loaded all my hunting gear and off to the lease I go to set up for hunting season.. I drive in the lease and around the landowners barn to my hookup as I have done for years, I get to the back of the barn and there is a stack of tin that I have always missed, but this time I see my rear tire just may "graze it" I think to myself I have this new fancy suspension mor/ryde and I bet that tire will run over the tin.. All looks well till I hear a big swoosh and can see in the mirror the tire is flat as side wall is cut.. I say oh well I will just change it and get set up no big deal... 96deg and humid as all get out.. An already long story short .. Tin will slice clean through your sidewall you will sweat and cuss trying to get the sliced tire high enough to change.. Lesson learned.. Happy Hunting Season.

[KiltDog]

Spent 2 hrs yesterday afternoon cleaning my new awning getting all the mold and mildew off. Decided I should leave it open to dry overnight. Well, a freak storm came by and dropped enough rain to buckle the tube and one of the support arms. Nice way to blow $2K at the end of the season. Worst part was that it woke me up at 3am and I couldn't get back to sleep. Bonehead ringing in my head.

[Tex1961]

Took a quick trip out this weekend. Ray Roberts State Park. About 40 miles away. As we were pulling out of our street I heard a loud 'POP' sound so I pulled over and got out to look around. Couldn't find anything obviously wrong with the TT etc.. So we headed out and got to the campsite and started getting setup. As I was unhitching the TT from our TV I looked at the hitch pin and noticed that the locking clip was gone. The hitch pin was still sticking out of the other side, but just barely. I guess the only thing holding it in was the pressure of the camper. Had we been in traffic with all of the start stop, I guarantee it would have slipped right out.. We were very lucky on this trip.. I found a local hardware store near the campgrounds and purchased a new hitch pin clip, but I am going today and buying a locking hitch pin.. Do not want that to ever happen again..

[dennis b]

Originally Posted by jwstewar

Lets see where do I start.....

Do I start with the time the pin came out of the end of the awning and I let the awning roller drop and hit my sister in the head (I was probably 17 for this), the time we had too many blocks under the tongue of the trailer and I jacked it up with bottle jacks so I could take some out and the trailer fell with the rest of the family inside(14 for that one), the time that I unhooked the truck and then dad got it in and took off quick and hit a tree stump and bent the tie rod (15), the time I thought I had a 2" ball and in reality it was only 1 7/8" and we were moving out of a campground because of impending flood coming and was in a hurry and didn't hook safety chains up and lost my cousin's camper (18)....

On to some more recent ones. Hooked up to the camper spring of 2010 (we bought it summer of '09) and I start to move. Keep giving the truck the gas and it wouldn't go. Thinking, man, I know the camper was heavy, but not that heavy. It must have sunk. I put the truck in 4wd-low range and gave it the gas. The camper kind of jumped and dropped back down. I was like what was that? I get out of the truck and walk back to see what I ran over. There were my wheel chocks that used to be in front of the tires was now in between the tires and flat. I had forgotten to take the chocks out. Trailer moved pretty easy then. Thought it was pretty good for my "weak" 1/2 ton Chevy pulling that 10k camper up over those chocks.

My most boneheaded move was buying our previous camper. It had been my Aunt and Unkles so I new it from the time it was new and had set it up and even towed it a few times for them. Well when Unkie passed away, my cousins talked my Aunt into selling it and buying a new smaller camper. We looked at it and saw some damage mainly age and a rotted floor around the toilet. We bought the '84 Scotty for $1500. I fixed the floor in the bathroom with new 3/4" plywood new stickly linoleum floor tiles in there, new laminate wood floor throughout the rest of the camper w/ 7/16" OSB sub floor under it, rebuilt the tires, sealed the roof, all new lights inside & out, new vents, all port (electric, water, etc) were replace, all new faucets, new microwave, new stove vent, recovered the couches, and the head cushions above the doors, repainted.....etc.... Used it 1 time. Water heater leaked. Started to go again a few weeks later, our house burnt and we didn't get to go. Fast forward through that disaster, we had another baby and the layout didn't work well. But order a new water heater for it. As I was replacing it, the floor under the bed was completely rotten and so was the wall by the heater. Decided I was done since the layout didn't work for us. Put new OSB subfloor down and finished the water heater. Pulled the trailer to the end of the yard on a Thursday evening. Phone rang Friday morning. Someone wanted, we bought the Jayco Friday afternoon July 3, 2009. Pay $1500 for it, put $2300 in it and who knows how many ours, and sold it for $2700 after using it for a total of 2 nights. Yep that one was pretty boneheaded for not looking over it better.

Not to be mean...but I'd never take you with me!!

[Nolaq]

It was our first camping trip with a pop up. Three kids, 3 1/2, and twins 1 1/2, and big dog.

We drove across Maine, into New Hampshire and through the white mountains to our campsite in some pretty good off and on rain all day.

Get to the site just as the sun is going down. Wife takes kids and dog to playground. As I'm getting ready to open it up, I notice that the front latch on the pop up wasn't secure for the entire trip, no biggie.

I crank the top and the heavens opened. It is pouring. And I mean POURING! My wife comes running back with wet screaming kids and dog. Camper's not set up yet, so into the Tahoe they go. Just then, one of the twins has a diaper explosion, and I can't get the slides out for the camper. (Did I mention it was our first trip?)

So we have five people, one 70 pound dog, and a nasty diaper all soaking wet, all in this Tahoe, while outside we think we just say Noah walk by.

Eventually the rain stops enough for me to go out and finish setting up. I pull the beds out, go inside and realize the couch cushions are soaked. Not damp. Soaked. The rain had been driven into the camper all the way across Maine and NH, and totally drenched the couch cusions.

It's still raining, btw.

No one slept.

No.

One.

My kids cried all night long because we were cold and wet (no heater). The dog wouldn't lay down, and when he did, he was in the freaking way. We tried to cook dinner inside and smoked the place out. We watched videos on our computer all night long.

At 4:00 am, I decide I'm making bacon. I put the bacon on the griddle, and again, smoked the entire camper out. My wife had one twin on her lap, and I looked over at her just in time to watch my daughter puke all over her mother's lap.

My wife and I just looked at each other and started laughing hysterically. It literally, could not get any worse.

We packed up 15 minutes later and went to a Holiday Inn Express. Drove that miserable camper home and sold it.

It's amazing that we gave it a second shot, actually, let alone that we love it as much as we do, but that is our baseline on how we rate every camping trip against since.

[Crabman]

^^^ Wow, that was quite a night!